There She Goes Again: Why Angela Left

Simply put, she left because she didn't really want to be there in the first place.

Because she felt humiliated by Renato Bruson's encore, an encore that she considers a setup, conductor Gianluigi Gelmetti repeating the aria way too quickly, refusing to either let the applause die down and go ahead from there or simply to barge ahead with the score, using the orchestra to force the applauding crowd into submission. Instead she thinks Gelmetti allowed Bruson to run away with the show.

And because, really, she can leave just like that, with a doctor's note, the way she so often does.

She left because she can and because there was no way she'd go back up there last night singing opposite Bruson, conducted by Gelmetti (who, in fact, does indeed have a reputation for not suffering tantrums lightly).

She's left important productions in important venues for much less, after all.

She stormed off Ravenna Festival's stage, almost ten years ago, a few minutes into her first Pagliacci rehearsal with Riccardo Muti (she had already clashed with Night Porter director Liliana Cavani, a woman of otherwise Vedic calm) -- because Muti corrected her, and suggested Angela did more work on the score. She felt humiliated, and left. Her husband left the production too, just a few days after her, blaming health problems. Riccardo Muti, who prepared the alternate cast in record time, ended in the emergency room -- via ambulance -- just a few hours before la prima, K.O.'d by a renal colic that for all these years people close to the maestro have blamed on the stress caused by the couple's behavior (note to singers felled by random mystery illnesses: Muti asked for a painkiller shot, rested for a few hours in the hospital, then went on to the Teatro Alighieri where he conducted Pagliacci as per his commitment. He never worked with the Gheorghius again).   

Back to Rome's Traviata: her husband -- who, if you listen to the inside talk, in Rome and at la Scala, is the reasonable half of the couple, not to mention the nicer half -- had at least the good sense to cancel without bothering to show up -- well, not exactly: he at least had the good manners to tell Zeffirelli that he'd be available only for two shows, giving Zeffirelli the chance to say no thankx in a relatively painless manner;  then of course Zeffirelli found himself stuck with a Gheorghiu who waited until the last moment to let him that she'd be available only for two shows, too.

At that point Zeffirelli and Opera di Roma management had to suck it up: firing her would just be nuts, they had been hyping the show as a star-heavy production, very likely the 84-year-old maestro's last new staging of Traviata -- this is his eighth! -- and you just don't pull that off in an emergency with a no-marquee-name, young cast, however talented they may be (and indeed Myrto is a talented young singer). Zeffirelli can pull off awesome stuff like his still powerful flower-children Romeo and Juliet, but this Traviata's concept was much different, and it was impossible to shift the staging's focus. They needed Angela, even for two nights only. For her name and for the hype (and yes, her husband's tantrum at La Scala in a way helped -- bad publicity, no publicity etc), and to their credit at Opera di Roma they're not exactly crying crocodile tears -- they pretented to play along with the "Oh, too bad, I'm sick!" thing. They're just like matches: you play with the Gheorghius, you get burned.

Same for la Scala: they cast her knowing fully the extent of her self-admiration and her cancellation-prone record (they hired two alternate sopranos, just in case); it'll be her first opera there (she only had one recital, last year, and of course there was no way she'd appear at la Scala during Muti's Musical Directorship) and la Scala will happily gather the hype (as much hype as you can get in July anyway) that comes together with her name (and her husband's).

Will she pull another stunt? Well, we hear that it's unlikely she'll sing opposite Leo Nucci anyway -- what if la Scala's audience asks him for the encore he never gave in a 40-year splendid career?  (I mean, they love him so much he already led them in a singalong there, wtf!). It'd be the Bruson/Rome fiasco all over again, only 10x worse. So the talk is, she'll sing -- if indeed she'll be there -- opposite the less dangerous Roberto Frontali. And let us hope dear Lorin Maazel keeps his good humor!

Anyway, long post, I know: she left Rome because she knows she can do Traviata in her sleep, at this point. It's her signature role. And she really thinks she sung better, last Friday, than she actually did. Because all those recitals with their yummy fees are taking their tolls on her voice.

Her husband said she cried when he explained her why they called them "the Bonnie and Clyde of opera" -- she hadn't seen the movie.

One hopes she has seen All About Eve , at least.

Comments

[Crewmantle]

Well given that there is a holiday going on, Little Miss Nobody Soprano decided to slink away when there would be little attention... or so she thought. Insufferable woman did not take into account the vast readership of Opera Chic, who are all too aware (with an educated palate) what she represents. Not to mention the international opera house directors who glide through these pages unnoticed.

It is one thing to continually cancel performances on a whim, but quite another to promise ONLY TWO, and then appear for ONE. One cannot underestimate the stupidity of this individual to think this will all be ignored in Italy with a silly device such as a 'doctors note' (bought and paid for face saving device). The veneer of credulity Little Miss Nobody Soprano may hope covers this farcical behaviour is indicative of the shallow mind at play. In its simplicity it is merely a further insult to the intelligence of todays worldly opera going public.

In the light of this departure which is stunning to me, I find it impossible to believe she will honour her contract in Milan. Without question she will withdraw, and not give the Milanese the opportunity to retrieve their insulted dignity. While there may exist a sliver of goodwill towards this guttersnipe in some Milanese quarters, they are far out numbered by the righteously indignant. IF Little Miss Nobody Soprano were to even consider going forward in other Italian venues, let alone august La Scala, what happened in Rome was a cake walk compared to how she will be received in future.

Well, perhaps there might be some supporting roles in the provinces where their onerous cancellations really don't matter a dime, given their second rate voices. Such ignominy is a well deserved period to the careers of these two has beens.

[Big Fan Sue]

Is this opinion or fact? I very confused.

[flipstinger]

OMG! lotsa juicy info here. I've been kinda busy the past few days. BRB with a comnment after I've digest all these dramatic turn of events...

[giorgia]

>> what if la Scala's audience asks him for the encore he never gave in a 40-year splendid career?

well, actually he has - not at La Scala, but, for instance, @ Teatro Regio in Parma, a few years ago, he gave an encore during Il Barbiere di Siviglia ("Largo al factotum", of course)... I'm 100% sure about that, as I've got it on video, too! :)

[coccodrillo]

"opinion or fact"? even better, it's Opera Chic!

Big Fan Sue, O.C. is in the business of giving us the inside gossip, the view from the wings. good luck getting insiders to speak on the record for that kind of stuff...

[Opera Chic]

Giorgia: Parma is SO not la Scala, that's why Juan Diego's encore was such a major deal here, it hadn't happened in 74 years (Chaliapin). Parma is different. I don't think Nucci will do that in July, esp. because Lissner was already unhappy when JDF did it, and I'm not sure Nucci wants to bring additional sorrow to the GM. And frankly I don't want to see la Scala go back to 19th century times either, with encores galore. Not even when the awesome Maestro Nucci is singing. But I am positive that Maestro Nucci would get 10 times the applause Gheorghiu would at la Scala -- and not, as she has been known to explain in Bruson's case, just because she's not Italian and the baritone is (JDF is, after all, not Italian).

[giorgia]

I know Parma is not La Scala (and thank Gawd for that, I must add). :)
Said this, it was a production that included Nucci, Raul Gimenez and my beloved Alfonso Antoniozzi, simple yet really funny and enjoyable (which is how it should always be, if you ask me - I want to go to opera to listen and see beautiful things, not to witness the capricci of a self-proclaimed diva...).

[Parsifal]

I m not really sure about the info regarding the 74 years period, Chaliapin etc...I think that in 1973, Alfredo Kraus sang a bis during a performance of Linda di Chamounix next to Rinaldi and Bruson and a recording of that night exists...You can also find it on LEGATO...

[Opera Chic]

Parsy, that's really interesting -- la Scala gave the Chaliapin info when everybody was trying to figure out when was the last time a singer had given an encore, nobody mentioned Kraus in '73. Do we have to ask la Scala to issue a correction then? That's sweet! Just blawg about that my omniscient friend!

[Parsifal]

I ll try to find the recording and upload the bis. But its gonna be difficult finding it in my musical chaos...

[Parsifal]

OC, i uploaded for you and your readers an excerpt of a Don Giovanni with Myrto Papatanasiu singing Non mi dir in Vienna next to Gerald Finley's Giovanni.Here's the link:
http://rapidshare.com/files/27929820/MyrtoPapatanasiu-NonMiDir.mp3

[flipstinger]

ummm k am back! first off, I think someone ought to smack the "shytes" out of this Ms. Attitude soprano. She's getting really annoying now. I know opera singers' health can be delicate and once a virus hits the system, OH OH! to the vocal cords. BUT, this insident in Roma seems to me more than a circumstance. First, her hubby does a stinkin' act in Milan, now her turn in Roma. My advise to her (yeah! like she'll ever listen me - not!) don't botha hitting La Scala as the Milanese will definitely eat her alive! ha ha. Again, this is my preconceive notion - can they (loggionisti) really do that? I'm having mixed feelings here - Ms. Attitude sop should just save her face in July and cancel now but yet again I kinda want her to so we get a taste of another drama unfold base on OC's future report.

[fignaz]

It's ironic all this hoo-ha over an "indisposition" what with Bruson in the cast. After all, he became persona non grata at the Met when they discovered he was agreeing to performances he had no intention of doing & then arranging for doctor's notes so he could collect the kill fee. Speaking of illness-- does anyone know how Giuseppe Filianoti is doing ?
Or was the whole peritonitis business just another head fake ???

[giorgia]

>> does anyone know how Giuseppe Filianoti is doing?

He's recovering from surgery (due to peritonitis [sp?]), he'll be ok again soonish. :)

[Mei]

Fignaz, about your concerns for Filianoti... I can tell you I saw an Elisir with Gheorghiu and Filianoti a copule of years ago, at Barcelona's Liceu, and that was not a great night for him, he spoiled his Una furtiva lagrima... Maybe there are no good vibrations there... I'm just saying...

[fignaz]

Thank you, Giorgia & Mei. If he had surgery, it sounds like his appendix burst, one of the most common sources of peritonitis. That's no picnic but fortunately it's not lethal anymore thanks to antibiotics. Get well soon GF ! We need all the good tenors we can get :-)

[George]

Can anyone give an update on how Filianoti is doing? I was sorry to hear that he had surgery. I hope he is feeling much better.